Worthy of Note: December 17, 2012

Prepared by June Weis

Find archives of Worthy of Note here. Sign up for our e-mailing lists there, too.

ETC Note:
The SREB offices will be closed from Monday, December 24 through Tuesday, January 1. We hope that you have a peaceful and joyous holiday season!

SREB News

Educator Effectiveness
Working with states on these issues is a major component of SREB’s efforts to help states implement the Common Core State Standards, which clearly define what students are expected to know. To help students reach the higher goals, teachers will need to teach more effectively. So states need to create an environment of feedback, evaluation and support where teachers continue to get better and better at their profession.

SREB's new vice president for educator effectiveness
Andy Baxter joined the Southern Regional Education Board in September 2012 as vice president for educator effectiveness. He comes to SREB from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, where he served as director of human capital strategies. In this role, he led the district’s work to measure, improve and reward the effectiveness of teachers, with a goal, in his words, of “creating an environment where people can get even better at what they do.” Baxter transitioned to this role following a two-year fellowship at CMS as a Strategic Data Fellow through the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard. In that capacity, he conducted statistical analyses of the district’s teaching workforce and advised the district’s leaders on policy implications. Read more….

Webinars

Keeping Pace/SREB Webinar Archived
Amy Murin, from the Evergreen Education Group, gave a really interesting presentation on Keeping Pace with Online and Blended Learning: 2012 Edition. If you were not able to join us or had to leave early, here is the link to the webinar recording: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-12-13.0732.M.69E5F4D60B328F51CB42DBA4B5870E.vcr&sid=849

To check out the report, please visit http://kpk12.com/. To learn more about the Evergreen Education Group, please visit http://evergreenedgroup.com/.

Converge Special Report Webinar Update: Specialty Classroom Technologies
Center for Digital Education, January 17, 2013 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST
A whole new class of specialized learning tools and technologies are appearing in classrooms today and are expected to increase in the near future. This influx of new classroom technology is driven by Common Core and other curriculum standards, student demand for cutting-edge technology and need to produce a more globally competitive workforce.

Specialty classroom technologies are also being used in the area of workforce readiness. Campuses face challenges both in trying to interest students in certain fields that are hiring as well as to retain them through graduation. However, a whole new class of specialized technology is emerging that not only can make up for campus’ limited resources, but can spark student engagement.

To equip students with the skills they need, K-12 and Higher Education institutions are now employing intensive and often specialized technologies such as:

Math and science labs
Gaming, animation and media programming labs
Art labs
GIS/CAD labs
Project-based learning environments
Virtual models and simulation games
Special needs programs

This webinar will discuss how these technologies and others are being implemented to deliver near real-world experiences to students in schools around the country.

MOOCs

How MOOCs Already Changed Higher Ed in 2012
Kristen Winkler, Getting Smart, December 2, 2012 reprinted from EdCetera Staff
MOOCs cannot be seen as a replacement yet, as they’re still trying to figure how students might get credit for taking courses, and they’re even further from offering a degree (or something similar). So competition for the big for-profits arises elsewhere. Bloomberg published an interesting article on how more and more state schools and private universities are making the move online. In many cases, these are cheaper and better rated options than a traditional degree program. Read more….

College of Future Could Be Come One, Come All
Tamar Lewin, New York Times, November 19, 2012
Teaching Introduction to Sociology is almost second nature to Mitchell Duneier, a professor at Princeton: he has taught it 30 times, and a textbook he co-wrote is in its eighth edition. But last summer, as he transformed the class into a free online course, he had to grapple with some brand-new questions: Where should he focus his gaze while a camera recorded the lectures? How could the 40,000 students who enrolled online share their ideas? And how would he know what they were learning?

MOOCs and Pedagogy: Teacher-Centered, Student-Centered, and Hybrids
Larry Cuban, December 5, 2012
In writing about all of the hype surrounding MOOCs, I saw this photo entitled “University Classroom of the Future.”

The prevailing version of MOOCs offers traditional, technology-enriched teacher-centered instruction, that is, lecturing to large groups of people, asking occasional questions, online discussion sections, and multiple-choice questions on exams. Such MOOCs possess advantages of efficiency in delivering information especially in particular subjects (e.g. procedural knowledge in computer science). Computer science departments at Stanford, MIT, and Harvard launched the initial MOOC offerings, not the Humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences, according to Keith Devlin, a Stanford University mathematician currently teaching a MOOC course on mathematical thinking (and the “Math Guy” on NPR). He also quotes generously from George Siemens.

There are numerous responses to this article and reference to this Time Magazine article that is worth reading.

Pondering the Future of MOOCs: What Will They Ultimately Achieve?
Staff, eCampus News, November 21, 2012
A year ago, hardly anybody knew the term MOOC. But the internet-based courses offered by elite universities through Coursera, by a consortium led by Harvard and MIT called edX, and by others, are proving wildly popular, with some classes attracting hundreds of thousands of students. In a field known for glacial change, MOOCs have landed like a meteorite in higher education, and universities are racing for a piece of the action. The question now is what MOOCs ultimately will achieve. Will they simply expand access to good instruction (no small thing)? Or will they truly transform higher education, at last shaking up an enterprise that’s seemed incapable of improving productivity, thus dooming itself to ever-rising prices? Much of the answer depends on the concept at the center of a string of recent MOOC announcements: course credit.

Technology Integration

Arizona Technology Integration Mix
A Resource Supporting the Full Integration of Technology in Arizona Schools

What is the Arizona Technology Integration Matrix?
The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, collaborative, constructive, authentic, and goal directed (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments. Together, the five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix of 25 cells.

What is in each cell?
Within each cell of the Matrix one will find two lessons plans with a short video of the lesson. Each lesson is designed to show the integration of technology in instruction and classrooms as well as the Arizona Educational Technology Standards.

Download PDF of the Technology Integration Matrix

Cell Phones/Smart Phones

Educational Technology and Life
A blog of Mark Wagner
Android or iOS and Mobile Learning Philosophy Or what is the best phone to purchase?

A friend asked whether he should purchase an iPhone 5 or a Samsung Galaxy S3 for his next phone, and here is a slightly edited version of my response:

How Are Cell Phones Different From Smartphones?
About.com
While we all know what cell phones are, we don’t always know how to differentiate them from smartphones. Here’s how.

Digital Footprints

10 Things Your Students Should Know About Their Digital Footprints
EdReach, December 10, 2012
A highly respected education advocate, Kevin Honeycutt, once asked me if any of us from our generation (GenX and before), had ever made a mistake in puberty. He then asked if our mistakes are “Googleable.”

The reality is that our mistakes from puberty are not “Googleable”. But our students’ mistakes are. “They’re on the record you see, ” Kevin continued, “so if they’re gonna do it (live online) anyway, I think it behooves us a educators to help our students shape and build a positive legacy.”

With that in mind, I have developed some important facts and opinions that our students should be completely aware of as they live in their digital world, creating digital footprints along the way.

Internet Trends 2012

The Biggest Internet Trends Of 2012
Jeff Dunn, Edudemic, December 10, 2012
It’s the end of the year and this may very well be the best look at the biggest Internet trends of 2012. From the iPad to social media to who bought what … this presentation by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has it all.

It’s a deep look at what we all did online (and offline) over the past year and is worth closely examining when you have the time. If you’re busy right now and frantically running around, bookmark it and come back later. You’ll be glad you did.

Internet Trends: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Slideshare)

Mary Meeker presents these trends every six months and they are highly touted online. This Forbes article is revealing. Forbes also has a feature on Big Data Trends.

Twitter

Twitter Tips we should all know, and care, about #edchat
David Hopkins, Technology Enhanced Learning Blog
I use Twitter a lot. Perhaps too much. I, like many others, have learned the hard way about hashtags, avatars, profiles, “tweetiquette” (or ‘twettiquette’), URL shorteners, keeping it real, keeping it professional, keeping it polite (well, I do), etc. Someone coming to Twitter now, all fresh and eager to get stuck in, might find it hard to find their own voice in the noise that the rest of us are making.

This infographic is a good start – share this around the office and the rest of your network (real-space or virtual) and help them get accustomed to the world of Twitter without falling in to the bad habits the rest of us have found.

A Great Twitter Cheat Sheet for Teachers
Mohamed Kharbach, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
There are lots of Twitter ideas here. Check this site provided by the same source: Twitter Tips Every Teacher should Know about and here is another one from Edudemic: 100 Simple Ways To Effectively Use Twitter

Social Networking

Social networking on the rise for educators
Laura Devaney, eSchool News, December 7, 2012
Educators’ use of social networking sites has seen a large jump since 2009, according to a new report that surveyed educators’ membership, use, privacy practices, and other social networking habits.

The report, A Survey of K-12 Educators on Social Networking, Online Communities, and Web 2.0 Tools 2012, was conducted by MMS Education and sponsored by edWeb.net and MCH Strategic Data.

A Little Poetry for Technology

Teaching with Fire: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Teach
Sam M. Intrator (Editor), Megan Scribner (Editor)
"Teaching with Fire” is a glorious collection of the poetry that has restored the faith of teachers in the highest, most transcendent values of their work with children....Those who want us to believe that teaching is a technocratic and robotic skill devoid of art or joy or beauty need to read this powerful collection. So, for that matter, do we all."

Review written by Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace and Savage Inequalities. Read Excerpt (PDF)

BYOD

Bring your own mobile devices to school
Download from Center for Digital Education
In today's educational environments, more and more students, guests, and faculty are bringing in their own Wi-Fi devices into the school’s network. This presents a unique challenge to the IT administrator. This paper discusses the challenges and solutions IT administrators are facing and how HP is addressing the security and management of the multiple devices being introduced into the wireless/wired network.

Common Core State Standards

Resources for Understanding the Common Core State Standards
Edutopia Staff
An educator's guide to websites, organizations, articles, and other resources looking at the new system of standards and how they will be assessed.

The American Way of Learning
Room for Debate, New York Times, December 11, 2012
The Common Core State Standards, adopted by the overwhelming majority of states and supported by the Obama administration, have worried liberals who question their quality and conservatives who fear they erode states’ traditional responsibility for education. At the same time, the budget pressure of the impending “fiscal cliff” could reduce federal support for education, which would add to the state and local responsibility.

As these trends collide, Americans can take a step back and ask: Should education standards and funding vary by state? Ten opinions offered here.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

IT Guidelines Developed for Smarter Balanced Assessments
Center for Digital Education, December 6, 2012
School districts now have a final technology-planning framework for supporting new assessment systems.

Based on research of existing school and district technology, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium of states came up with a framework of minimum existing device requirements and recommended guidelines for new devices. Smarter Balanced — along with another group of states called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers — received federal grant funding to design next generation assessments based on the Common Core State Standards.

For the full framework and specifications, see the consortium's guide on its website.

2012 Ed Tech Yearbook

2012 Yearbook: Technology Innovation in Education
Center for Digital Education, November 1, 2012
The first part of the Yearbook provides education technology market awareness by taking a look at IT spend, funding opportunities and top trends of the 2011-2012 school year. The second part highlights 50 education innovators that have led the way and provided best practice models to imitate.

A complimentary webinar will cover the top trends with research and survey data from the Center for Digital Education and will highlight some of the who’s who in education and what they have been doing to transform their schools

Move to the Cloud?

Seven Tennessee Community Colleges Move to the Cloud
Tanya Roscoria, Center for Digital Education, November 26, 2012
Seven of Tennessee's 13 community colleges have moved major systems to the cloud -- and used the state's Office of Information Resources as a centralized cloud hosting provider.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources Kickstart Student Success
Tanya Roscoria, Center for Digital Education, December 5, 2012
Research studies show that student success increases when colleges replace traditional textbooks with resources that are open to anyone who wants to use and repurpose them.

These open educational resources — called OERs for short — provide one way to address higher education's access and affordability changes. Educators have theorized that high textbook costs negatively affect student success, and now data backs them up, showing that OERs do improve student success.

A 2012 survey of more than 20,000 Florida college students showed that 63.6 percent don't purchase textbooks for their classes because of the cost, according to the Orange Grove Repository Project, led by the Florida Virtual Campus. While this may seem high, it's true, said Geoff Cain, director of distance education at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif.

Boston University Digital Commons
The Boston University Institutional Repository contains documents and publications authored or co-authored by BU faculty, students, and staff.

Digital Common is an open access repository, which means that the full text of the work deposited here is freely accessible to the world via the web. Access is restricted only in unavoidable instances, for example where publisher copyright restrictions prevail. However over 90% of scholarly publishers worldwide now allow some version of the documents they publish to be made available in a repository such as this.

$10,000 Degree

The $10,000 degree- Provost Prose
Herman Berliner, Inside Higher Ed, December 9, 2012
A highly priced car and a low priced car will get you to the same place at the same time. The same analogy holds for the $10,000 degree and the $30,000 a year tuition charge. Offering a bachelor’s degree for $10,000 is certainly doable and I feel confident that on standardized objective tests, the results could be very similar and possibly identical to higher cost degree programs. But is the product really the same?

Florida May Reduce Tuition for Select Majors
Lizette Alvarez, New York Times, December 9, 2012
Now, looking for more value on the remaining dollars, Governor Scott and Republican lawmakers are prodding Florida’s 12 state universities to find ways to steer students toward majors that are in demand in the job market. The message from Tallahassee could not be blunter: Give us engineers, scientists, health care specialists and technology experts. Do not worry so much about historians, philosophers, anthropologists and English majors. Mr. Scott wants the state’s 28 colleges (formerly called community colleges) to offer some of their four-year degrees for $10,000.

Academic Standards

Who Will Hold Colleges Accountable?
Kevin Carey, New York Times, December 9, 2012
Last month The Chronicle of Higher Education published a damning investigation of college athletes across the nation who were maintaining their eligibility by taking cheap, easy online courses from an obscure junior college. A main reason the scandal persists is that our system is built around the strange idea of the “credit hour,” a unit of academic time that does little to measure student learning.

The lack of meaningful academic standards in higher education drags down the entire system. Grade inflation, even (or especially) at the most elite institutions, is rampant. A landmark book published last year, “Academically Adrift,” found that many students at traditional colleges showed no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing, and spent their time socializing, working or wasting time instead of studying. (And that’s not even considering the problem of low graduation rates.)

The rapid migration of higher education online exacerbates these problems. Read more….

School Vouchers in LA

Bobby Jindal’s school voucher program ruled unconstitutional
Natalie Jennings, Washington Post, November 30, 2012
One of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature accomplishments, a private school tuition voucher program, was ruled unconstitutional by a Louisiana judge Friday, the Associated Press reports. State Judge Tim Kelley said Friday that the program improperly diverts money allocated through Louisiana’s public school funding formula to private schools. He also said it unconstitutionally diverts local tax dollars to private schools.

Education Data

Time To Focus on Helping People Use Education Data
Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal, November 15, 2012
Although states are doing a masterful job of accumulating data and integrating data sources to support education improvement, the next part of the job may be their toughest yet: teaching people how to use the data. That's the point of a new report, presentation, and tweet fest from the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), a nonpartisan organization promoting the use of data to help students succeed in schools, colleges, and the workplace.

According to its eighth annual analysis of state progress in this area, a number of states have come a long way in putting in place the essential systems required to improve system performance and student achievement, as defined by the DQC. These initiatives encompass these ten goals. No state, according to DQC has accomplished all 10 goals. Read more about what has been accomplished.See how states compare here: Data for Action 2012: DQC's State Analysis

School Leaders Implored to Do Better Job Using Tech. to Solve Problems
Ian Quillen, Education Week, November 16, 2012
The Alliance for Excellent Education has released a new report that implores school leaders to take a more deliberate approach in using technology reforms as part of a comprehensive plan to address four pressures that face contemporary schools. The report identifies those four pressures as the need for improved achievement, the tightening of school budgets, the changing demographics of the teaching force, and the increasing technology demands of the outside world.

Read the press release , download the report, or access the digital learning portal.

State Authorization

Latest News on State Authorization
WCET
Russ Poulin at the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) released a blog post with significant updates on the state of play concerning state authorization. Jarrett Cummings summarizes here.

Digital Textbooks

Top ed-tech news: November/December 2012
eSchool News Staff, November 19, 2012
The nation’s top education chief wants textbooks to go all-digital within the next five years … a Georgia elementary-school teacher has made about $1 million selling her lesson plans online … more college applicants are getting tripped up by social media: These are among the top educational technology stories in the November/December issue of eSchool News.

The November/December issue is now available in digital format at eSchoolNews.com. You can browse the full publication here, or click on any of the headlines to read these highlights.

Online /Blended Learning

The Chaotic MBA Experience: Online Learning in a Time-starved World
Russ Poulin (WCET) found this student’s point of view of online learning. He had been looking for someone to tell his or her story when he ran into Sean Baxter, who recently completed an online MBA from Regis University. In his guest blog he talks about the difficulties of balancing home, work, school, family medical issues, and a wedding...and still graduate. He also gives us a brief insight into what worked for him and what did not:

Evaluating What Works in Blended Learning
Education Week, December 12, 2012
Blended learning—the mix of virtual education and face-to-face instruction—is evolving quickly in schools across the country, generating a variety of different models. This special report, the second in an ongoing series on virtual education, examines several of those approaches and aims to identify what is working and where improvements are needed.

Read Evaluating What Works in Blended Learning as a free digital edition—online or on your mobile device.

Embracing Virtual Learning to Ease Overcrowding
Katie Ash, Education Week, November 19, 2012
Educators in the Manchester school district in New Hampshire are scrambling to respond to outcries about overcrowded classrooms by considering the introduction of blended and virtual classes for students there, according to this article in the Union Leader.

As part of a district report titled "Maximizing Educational Opportunities," Manchester Superintendent Thomas Brennan suggests creating classrooms where students can take courses through the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School as well as in "remote classrooms" that allow students from any high school in the district to log in to any course being taught at a different high school. Students would also be able to take face-to-face classes through the University of New Hampshire-Manchester under the proposed plan.

But there has been a parent backlash to this idea as reported in the New York Times, December 7: Strapped District Plans to Add Online Classes

Georgia schools lay unequal foundations for college
Kelly Guckian and Jaime Sarrio, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sunday, November 18, 2012
This front-page feature article in the Sunday AJC describes the paths of two top students (valedictorians) and illustrates the uneven preparation for college provided by Georgia schools. The challenges of rural districts have been a long-standing concern, but an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis focused on college readiness. It found that rural students are more likely to need remedial help in college and to score lower on the SAT, a predictor of college success. Good discussion on the Georgia Virtual School.

New Online Learning Requirement — NCVPS
North Carolina Board of Education approves pilot to study implementation of online learning course requirement:

“The State Board of Education is asked to direct NCVPS to develop a policy recommendation for State Board of Education approval requiring each student in North Carolina to successfully complete a teacher-led online course before they graduate beginning with the class of 2020. During the 2013-14 academic year, NCVPS shall conduct a pilot with a small number of LEAs in order to study the planning and implementation process as well as the impact on the LEAs and on NCVPS that need to be outlined in the policy.”

After Vote, Idaho Ed Board Ditches Online Classes
John Miller, Associated Press, Atlanta Journal Constitution, November 19, 2012
Bending to the will of Idaho voters, the state board voted to ditch a requirement that high school students take two online classes to graduate. Nearly all of the board members, however, said some Internet-learning mandate was necessary to prepare students for the work force. Voters rejected a law to establish the online requirement, which also included a $180 million contract for laptops.

Online Learning Can Be Pricey
Kolten Parker, My San Antonio News, December 1, 2012
“Start-up costs” for building a comprehensive online course catalog at Texas’ public universities could be cited for keeping the price of online classes as high and sometimes higher than traditional classes — for now. University officials say cost is a reflection of the investment associated with a new way of teaching and learning. “Building an online infrastructure has a large up-front cost but can save the university space and money over years of using the technologies,” said Dominic Chavez, spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. will pass on the savings to students, who enjoy the flexibility and convenience of online classes while universities can enroll more without accommodating them on campus.

How to Assess the Costs of Online Learning in Post-secondary Education
North/Contact Nord
As your college and university moves to increase its online learning offerings, you ask yourself the inevitable question “How do we assess the costs as part of our planning”? Once you have reached the point of answering this question, a number of other questions naturally follow:

Will online learning be more work for faculty?
Is online learning more expensive than face-to-face teaching?
What do we need to invest?
What fees should we charge to cover costs or make a profit?
Can it save money? If so, what do we need to do?

Every case is different, and you need to develop a proper business model based on the unique needs and requirements of your institution, but there is enough experience and research now to be able to provide you a rough guide on what drives the costs of online learning, and how these differ from the costs of face-to-face teaching.

Augmented Reality

How Augmented Reality Can Change Teaching
Ken Myers, Getting Smart, December 11, 2012
The technology behind Augmented Reality is taking a real-world view and enhancing it with computer-generated imagery. Whether this is done by using a computer monitor and camera or fitted goggles to imprint imagery in the lenses, augmenting in this manner has great possibilities for a variety of tasks.

Educators of all kinds are implementing this technology and the progress has been nothing short of excellent. Children that use this technology have remained focused on the task and have seemed more attentive to the lesson. How can AR technology impact our educational system for primary and tertiary learning?

Badges Empower Learning

Show Me Your Badge
Kevin Carey, New America Foundation, November 2, 2012
While they may appear to be just images, digital badges are actually portals that lead to large amounts of information about what their bearers know and can do. They are also being used to improve education itself, by borrowing techniques from video games that keep users playing, until they advance to the next level.

Just Interesting Articles

5 Things Really Smart People Do
Kevin Daum, Inc Posted in Huffington Post, December 5, 2012
The more I fill my brain with facts, figures, and experience, the less room I have for new ideas and new thoughts. Plus, now I have all sorts of opinions that may refute the ideas being pushed at me. Like many people I consider myself a lifelong learner, but more and more I have to work hard to stay open minded.

But the need for learning never ends, so your desire to do so should always outweigh your desire to be right. The world is changing and new ideas pop up everyday; incorporating them into your life will keep you engaged and relevant. The following are the methods I use to stay open and impressionable. They'll work for you too. No matter how old you get.

An 80-Year-Old Graduate With an Online Marketing Degree Kept His Promise
Reeve Hamilton, New York Times via Texas Tribune, November 29, 2012
“I promised my mother many, many years ago that I would get my degree,” said Mr. Titus, a former salesman who lives in Houston. “To me, it was a major, big, big, huge accomplishment.”

By a wide margin, Mr. Titus was the oldest member of the inaugural graduating class from W.G.U. Texas, a nonprofit online university created in 2011 with an executive order by Gov. Rick Perry.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Using Technology
Mohamed Kharbach, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
This is basically a list of 7 habits of effective teachers using technology. I really like how these habits are sequenced and I found them to be the habits of every successful teacher and not only those using technology. I don't know if the habits are arranged in order of importance or not but if they are then I would put number seven as the first habit.Overall , the poster is really a great work and it is worth sharing.

7 Professional Development Tips For Online Teachers
Francesca Catalano, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, December 6, 2012
Faculty management at a distance has its challenges, whether or not the faculty members are full time or adjuncts. Developing community is vital to establish a connection between the university and faculty as well as amongst faculty. It also reinforces to all faculty, regardless as to their rank, that their participation and efforts are valued. The best way to do this is through faculty meetings.

Included here are seven simple tips that will assist in the development of meaningful faculty meetings.

Study: Tech classes correlate with better achievement
Laura Devaney, eSchool News, December 4, 2012
High school students in Florida who took at least one technology course and industry certification exam had higher attendance rates and GPAs, on average, than students with similar backgrounds who did not take such a course, a new study finds. Just what this means is unclear, but the researchers who conducted the study surmise that students who take technology classes preparing them with real-world skills might be more engaged in school.

What the Election Results Mean for Higher Education
Sarah Langmead, eCampus News, December 6, 2012
President Obama’s focuses on making college more affordable and accessible to students, improving college completion rates, and improving academic quality and value are expected to continue in the next four years, according to a new report that examines how the 2012 election results will affect higher education. Particularly focused on fiscal and policy implications, “Higher Education and the 2012 Elections,” from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), breaks down federal and state election results, and highlights projected changes

Khan Academy Founder Proposes a New Type of College
Alisha Azevedo, Wired Campus, The Chronicle, November 29, 2012
Salman Khan lays out his thoughts on the future of education in a new book that calls for more emphasis on mentoring and less on grading.

The Net-Price Myth
Kevin Carey, The Chronicle, November 26, 2012
College spending is the driving force behind affordability in the long run, and future cost increases are likely to be unmanageable for students, writes Kevin Carey.

Helping Students Learn with Reliable Wireless Connectivity
eSchool News
The explosion of mobile devices in schools underscores the need for fast, secure, reliable, and easy-to-manage wireless internet access—enabling students to learn anytime, anywhere, while letting school leaders focus on instruction rather than solving IT issues. With the generous support of Aerohive Networks, eSchool News has assembled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other relevant resources, to help you provide fast, reliable wireless service in your schools and communities.

Other Resources

PhotoPeach for Educators
Described as “a better way to manage student accounts and projects.” Sign up here.

20+ Free Online Libraries
Getting Smart, November 20, 2012
It’s a shame more people are not aware of the wide array of free online libraries. Databases, books, videos, audio recordings and e-books are available, just waiting to be viewed and used. This guide will help avid readers, serious researchers and casual surfers alike get the most out of free web libraries.

22 Useful Google Forms for Teachers and Principals
Richard Byrne, Free Technology for Teachers
As I've mentioned in the past, Kern Kelley is my go-to person when I need help with Google Forms and Spreadsheets. Recently, Kern Tweeted out a list of the forms that he has developed for teachers and principals. You can make a copy of all of these forms by clicking on the titles and opening them in your Google Drive account.